"Top Chef" has had plenty of competitors who got the boot but still went on to do amazing things. Despite losing, these chefs have done well for themselves.
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00:00Hundreds of Top Chef contestants have put their culinary skills to the test on the iconic Bravo
00:05series. While the vast majority of the competitors are ultimately told to pack up their knives and go,
00:11plenty of competitors who got the boot famously went on to do amazing things.
00:16Perhaps no one in the history of the show has had a more robust post-Top Chef career
00:21than Carla Hall. She opened Carla Hall's Southern Kitchen in Brooklyn, wrote the cookbook Cooking
00:25With Love, Comfort Food That Hugs You, and started a catering company. She also co-hosted The Chew,
00:31showcased her acting talents on General Hospital and the recent Gossip Girl reboot,
00:35and even appeared on Antiques Roadshow to have her grandmother's purses appraised.
00:39While Hall's cooking talents and big-time enthusiasm made her an instant star on the show,
00:44she was never quite able to pull off a victory, coming in as runner-up on Top Chef New York and
00:48fifth place on her Top Chef All-Stars season. But winning the fan-favorite award and the
00:53unofficial title for the show's best catchphrase is a decent consolation.
00:57"'Hootie Hoo' is something that my husband and I say. When we go out,
01:00and we can't find each other, one of us will say,
01:02Hootie! And the other one will say, Hoo! Hootie!"
01:06There have been plenty of tough losses in the history of Top Chef, but taking a loss
01:10competing against your younger brother in the finale is a particularly bitter pill to swallow.
01:14Such was the case in the epic Brian Voltaggio vs. Michael Voltaggio showdown of Season 6,
01:20with Brian ultimately falling short to Michael. More than a decade later,
01:24Brian gave it another go on Top Chef All-Stars LA, but he fell just short yet again,
01:29losing to Melissa King in the finals. Voltaggio is an all-timer who came close
01:34but could never quite fulfill his destiny. But he's thriving since hanging up his Top Chef apron,
01:39running multiple successful restaurants, including Voltaggio Brothers Steakhouse with his brother,
01:44Michael. And Brian is the only contestant to compete on Top Chef and Top Chef Masters,
01:48a testament to his place in the show's history.
01:52Was Nina Compton robbed? Plenty of viewers thought so after the Top Chef New Orleans finale
01:56when the fan-favorite chef lost to Nicholas Elmy in a nail-biter. There was such outrage over the
02:02conclusion of Season 11 that judge Tom Colicchio even posted the scores from the final cook-off
02:07on Twitter in an effort to validate the results. While Compton may not be a Top Chef winner,
02:12she's earned plenty of accolades since competing on the show. Compton ended up staying in New
02:16Orleans, opening Compere Le Pan in 2015. Fusing French, Italian, and Caribbean flavors,
02:22the cross-cultural hotspot garnered plenty of praise, including a spot on Eater's List of
02:27America's 38 Essential Restaurants. Food & Wine anointed Compton as Best New Chef,
02:32and in 2018, she took home the James Beard Award for Best Chef, South.
02:37It wasn't just his cooking that made Gregory Gourdet a Top Chef standout when he competed
02:41on Season 12 of the show. The Portland-based chef inspired fans with his optimism and
02:46resilience after coping with drug and alcohol addiction for several years.
02:50Gourdet managed to cook his way to the finale, and despite ending on a high note with a four-course
02:55feast that included a stunning short rib with red mole, he didn't have the firepower to Best Winner,
03:00Mei Lin. Gourdet made his triumphant return to the show on Top Chef All-Stars L.A.,
03:06but came in fifth place. Gourdet appeared on the show the following season,
03:09which was filmed in his hometown of Portland, as a guest judge.
03:12Beyond Top Chef, Gourdet recently released his debut cookbook, Everyone's Table,
03:17Global Recipes for Modern Health, and after a successful pop-up run, he's creating a permanent
03:22home for Khan, a high-end restaurant that highlights his Haitian roots.
03:26The red-bearded Kevin Gillespie has some incredible cooking competition prowess,
03:31and yet he wasn't able to pull off a Top Chef win. The Atlanta-based chef first debuted on
03:36Season 6 in Las Vegas, but unfortunately was slotted against not one, but two Voltagios.
03:42Gillespie ended up with the bronze and the honor of being tapped as fan favorite. Gillespie was
03:47set to find redemption when he returned to the show for Top Chef All-Stars L.A.,
03:51but it wasn't meant to be. After a devastating loss as team captain during Restaurant Wars,
03:56Gillespie returned to the competition via wins on Top Chef Last Chance Kitchen,
04:00but an overcooked pork coppa prevented him from moving on to the finale.
04:05Despite his losses, his achievement will go down as one of the most impressive in Top Chef history,
04:10as Gillespie was diagnosed with cancer two years prior. Before his return to Top Chef
04:14All-Stars, Gillespie told Forbes,
04:16"...I really don't care if I win. I have always been way too driven by money and success and
04:21I just don't care anymore. It is my goal to make it to the finals and be on enough episodes
04:25to tell my story."
04:27Meat maestro Isaac Toopes is yet another fan-favorite competitor in the Top Chef world.
04:32Toopes began to heat up on Top Chef California midway through the season with impressive
04:36back-to-back victories, beginning with a win during Restaurant Wars. The following week,
04:41Toopes proved he was too legit to quit, wowing guest judge MC Hammer with a dish of scallops
04:46with barbecue sauce and grits that made Hammer feel like he was in New Orleans.
04:50"'Thought I was down there on Mardi Gras."
04:51"'Thank you, Isaac.'"
04:53His run extended all the way to the Final Four in Las Vegas, but sadly,
04:57said goodbye when his chicken-fried, dry-aged ribeye missed the mark.
05:00But a gamble that did pay off for the Louisiana chef is his New Orleans restaurant,
05:04Toopes Meadery, which is still going strong after nearly a decade.
05:08Toopes recently returned to his old stomping grounds,
05:10tackling sous-chef and judging duties on the inaugural season of Top Chef Amateurs.
05:16Now a food television fixture, Antonia Lofaso made her small-screen breakout
05:20on the stacked Season 4 of Top Chef. It was clear Lofaso was bound to be a star,
05:25showcasing a winning combo of high-caliber Italian cooking and charisma.
05:29But winning Top Chef wasn't meant to be. She made it to the final phase of the competition
05:33in Puerto Rico, but left with a fourth-place finish. Lofaso's comeback tour on the first
05:38Top Chef All-Stars went slightly better, with a third-place finish.
05:41But her trophy case isn't completely empty. She earned victories on Top Chef Duels,
05:46squaring off against distant cousin Mike Isabella,
05:49and on the judges' battle of Food Network's Cutthroat Kitchen.
05:52She's also the only Top Chef alum to appear on The Bachelorette,
05:55lending some hometown support to contestant and family friend Ben Smith.
05:59When she's not on TV, Lofaso is busy running several Los Angeles restaurants,
06:03including Dama, Black Market Liquor Bar, and Scopa Italian Roots.
06:08Love him or hate him, there is no denying that Brian Malarkey is one of the biggest
06:12names to ever appear on Top Chef. The outspoken chef was one of the early stars of the show,
06:16appearing on Season 3. He made it all the way to the first phase of the finale,
06:20but an overcomplicated, whiskey-braised elk shank sent him packing with a fourth-place finish.
06:25It would be another 13 years before he would make his way back to the Top Chef kitchen,
06:29returning for Top Chef All-Stars L.A., where he settled for sixth place in the competition.
06:34Malarkey appeared on several other shows, most notably as a mentor on ABC's The Taste,
06:39alongside Nigella Lawson, Luda Lefebvre, and the late, great Anthony Bourdain. But it's Malarkey's
06:45multimillion-dollar restaurant empire that is far and away his most impressive post-Top Chef feat.
06:50On an episode of Watch What Happens Live, Top Chef judge Tom Colicchio said,
06:54"...Brian Malarkey has probably done better than any chef ever on the show in terms of business."
06:59While her time competing on Top Chef Austin was brief,
07:02Nyesha Arrington has had so much success since appearing on the show.
07:06The Los Angeles chef came in 11th place when she competed, sharing the loss in a double
07:10elimination challenge. Three years later, she sought redemption on Top Chef Duels,
07:14but got edged out by Jennifer Carroll. The losses clearly didn't deter Arrington,
07:18whose star continues to rise. She's done everything from opening the sadly short-lived
07:23Santa Monica restaurant Native to teaching Selena Gomez how to cook Branzino on an episode of Selena
07:29& Chef. She's also brought her expertise to the judges' table on Guy's Grocery Games and Master
07:34Chef. And for her next project, she'll be joining up with Gordon Ramsay on his latest Fox competition
07:39series, Next Level Chef. While Dale Taldi is now one of the most beloved alums in Top Chef history,
07:45that wasn't always the case. His debut on Top Chef Chicago was a mixed bag,
07:50with Taldi's temper earning him more attention than his cooking. He got the boot during restaurant
07:55wars for his ill-advised butterscotch miso scallops, which judge Anthony Bourdain deemed
08:00jaw-droppingly bad. Two years later, Taldi returned to compete on Top Chef All-Stars,
08:05but ended with a sixth-place finish.
08:07Taldi's post-Top Chef career has been marked by lows and highs. His flagship Brooklyn restaurant
08:12Taldi opened to acclaim in 2012. Two other branches in Miami and Jersey City would follow,
08:18but all three have since closed. But Taldi's food-crush hospitality,
08:23a co-venture with his wife Agnes, is behind multiple successful restaurants and bars.
08:28Taldi's work has helped Chinese-inspired eatery Goose Feather in Tarrytown, New York,
08:32receive a shout-out on Esquire's 2020 list of Best New Restaurants in America.